My Mag85 sucks, am I an idiot????

[65535]

I would say beef up your batery carrier by soldering wires from the tips of the springs to the tip of the other spring it connects to. on every spring, then chekc current again.

 

[Timson]

You're doing it right.

You have 1.29A flowing through your lamp ......No wonder it looks bad :eeew:

New cells and a proper battery carrier will make a world of diference.


Tim

 

[Norm]

I pulled the tailcap and touched the Red lead to the bottom battery holder, touched the Black lead to the Mag case, and boom the light comes on. Have the meter set on 10A...(with a - above the ...), the Red lead is plugged into the hole that says 10A DC. The Black lead is in the one that says Com. Is this correct? If so, it's messed up, because the reading on the screen is 1.26

Sounds like you've done everything correctly your reading is low because of the extra resistance in the battery holders. As mentioned before you need to do tail spring mod, switch mod and buy a fivemega battery holder. Or you could also have a custom battery pack made up. http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/main.asp?sid=650346&pgid=loosecells
Norm

 

[270winchester]

use a Fivemega 9AA-3D ataptor adn CBP1650s and you'll be grinning ear to ear.

warning: let the batts cool for at least half an hour before you use them. the 1650s are so potent they will blow the lamp when freshly charged.

 

[JRS7]

Sounds like you've done everything correctly your reading is low because of the extra resistance in the battery holders. As mentioned before you need to do tail spring mod, switch mod and buy a fivemega battery holder. Or you could also have a custom battery pack made up

I realize they are cheap lousy battery holders, but the reading is almost the same WITH OR WITHOUT the battery holders....so if I'm doing the reading right then what it's telling me is that the battery holders are not so bad, but my batterys are junk......problem with that theory is that another set of batteries reads the same.

Part of my sickly yellow light problem was a screwed up Reflector. A new reflector has greatly increased the beam, it's now brighter than the Scorpion. Just trying to experiment with it until some better battery holders are available.......

Maybe I being confusing, but what I'm trying to say is that there should be ZERO RESISTANCE, because I checked the current draw with the batterys laying on the table touching each other......make sense?

 

[tebore]

If I short my battery back alone for like a split second it shows like 20amps. Don't do it for long or you damage the cells. See what kind of reading you get.

If it's fine then the problem might be your swtich or any solder joints have high resistance. With my swtich there was a lot of oxidation so I took out the metal parts and soaked it in CLR overnight. After that I wiped it off with DeOxit and treated with progold. My mag has almost 0 resistance.

 

[not2bright]

Given that you have taken the Mag tailcap spring, switch, and PR socket out of the equation by hooking the cells in holders directly to the lamp via the meter, I would suspect that your cells aren't holding up to the load or the cell holders are highly resistive.

It would be my first guess that the cells aren't supplying enough current. If you want a quick fix that you can get locally go for the Sanyo eneloops (Circuit City maybe?) or Rayovac 2100 Hybrids (Walmart $8.97/4 pack).

I am using the Rayovac Hybrids in my ROP HI without a problem. I am reading 3.6A from the 6 Hybrids driving the Pelican 3854 HI bulb (black lead to the bottom of the cell carrier and red to the outer edge of the flashlight). This light performed nearly as well with a GOOD set of Sanyo 2500s, but better with the Hybrids. Not to mention that the light stays "ready to use" much longer now that with the Sanyo.

BTW, I think you are using your meter correctly, but it is showing you that you aren't getting enough current to the bulb.

 

[tebore]

Given that you have taken the Mag tailcap spring, switch, and PR socket out of the equation by hooking the cells in holders directly to the lamp via the meter, I would suspect that your cells aren't holding up to the load or the cell holders are highly resistive.

It would be my first guess that the cells aren't supplying enough current. If you want a quick fix that you can get locally go for the Sanyo eneloops (Circuit City maybe?) or Rayovac 2100 Hybrids (Walmart $8.97/4 pack).

I am using the Rayovac Hybrids in my ROP HI without a problem. I am reading 3.6A from the 6 Hybrids driving the Pelican 3854 HI bulb (black lead to the bottom of the cell carrier and red to the outer edge of the flashlight).

I think you are using your meter correctly, but it is showing you that you aren't getting enough current to the bulb.

Shouldn't a ROP HI read well over 4Amps? Sounds like the Hybrids are holding up to high drain either.

 

[not2bright]

Shouldn't a ROP HI read well over 4Amps? Sounds like the Hybrids are holding up to high drain either.

tebore, I assume that you meant they AREN'T holding up to high drain.

The 3854 HI is listed at 4.15 on the lithium version as far as I know. And for the 3.6A number I posted, I literally grabbed my ROP that has been sitting for 4+ weeks (with some use over this time) and took a measurement. I guess I could charge up the cells and take a reading with a fresher charge if you are interested.

The point of my post is that the Hybrids will do better than 1.29A that JRS7 is seeing from his Duracell 2650/Energizer 2300 setup. And the cells are most likely available locally for a reasonable price. Add to that the benefits of the low self discharge with the eneloop and hybrid and you have a "always ready to go" light.

 

[simonsays]

Good news everyone


Fivemega is once again offering 'proper' battery holders and reflectors over in the group buys forum.

Simon

 

[Bob_G]

I realize they are cheap lousy battery holders, but the reading is almost the same WITH OR WITHOUT the battery holders....so if I'm doing the reading right then what it's telling me is that the battery holders are not so bad, but my batterys are junk......problem with that theory is that another set of batteries reads the same.

Not necessarily. Resistance increases with current, so if you had proper batteries that were supplying ~3.5A on your table setup, you may see a good drop when in the light and checking at the tailcap with your battery holders.

There are only a few commercial AA batteries that can reliably hold voltage at he current levels hotwires run at. Eneloop is the best bet since you also get the advantage of low self-discharge.

If you do get some good batteries, do your table top thing again and post the results. It would be interesting to see if there's a drop when in the light compared to end-to-end.

Oh, alkaline cells have high internal resistance, and are the worst for a high current draw, so you've got some false evidence there when comparing them. It's leading you to the wrong conclusion.

 

[Timson]

Get your cells here.... These are what Tom (SilverFox) recommends - so that's good enough for me.....I'm placing an order right now.

$1.85 a pop - Can't complain at that!


Tim.

 

[Bob_G]

Depends on what light you're using them in. You don't need anything like that in a Mag85. They're basically a CBP1650 alternative/replacement. So, 5A+ you want them, but under that, the Eneloops low self--discharge and higher capacity is too big an advantage. Anyone using 1650s though should jump on the Ti 1800 it looks like.

 

[tebore]

tebore, I assume that you meant they AREN'T holding up to high drain.

The 3854 HI is listed at 4.15 on the lithium version as far as I know. And for the 3.6A number I posted, I literally grabbed my ROP that has been sitting for 4+ weeks (with some use over this time) and took a measurement. I guess I could charge up the cells and take a reading with a fresher charge if you are interested.

The point of my post is that the Hybrids will do better than 1.29A that JRS7 is seeing from his Duracell 2650/Energizer 2300 setup. And the cells are most likely available locally for a reasonable price. Add to that the benefits of the low self discharge with the eneloop and hybrid and you have a "always ready to go" light.

Yep I meant "Aren't" I was posting at work and someone was heading into the office so I mistyped. I have eneloops(close to Hybrids) coming and my Duracell 2650s can handle 3.6Amps. They pretty much max at 3.5-3.7amps I was hoping these new cells would hold up better, closer to 5amp max.

 

[JRS7]

Good news on the Fivemega battery holders, but I still want to learn to read how many amps the light is pulling......I'm going to post some pictures of what I'm doing after I get off the treadmill and see if you guys still think I'm doing it right.

I have to believe that I'm not, I tried to read the amps off of a ROP also (6 AA's), and no matter what I always get about the same rating. Around 1.33 with fully charged batterys. Doesn't seem to matter what I read, ROP or Mag85, in the case or out, in the battery holders or out, reading is always about the same, 1.34 to 1.26

I'll post some pics here in a little while and maybe you guys can tell me if I'm doing it right.

(I'm new at this, and was ready to throw everything away a couple of days ago, but now it's getting enjoyable messing with it and trying to track it all down.....I feel like a CSI Investigator without the dead bodies!)

JRS7

 

[Bob_G]

If your light turns on with its normal brightness when you make the connection, you pretty much have to be doing it right. That would leave the DVM itself as the suspect I'd think. Maybe try to flash amp test a new CR123 primary and see what you get. Just touch the DVM leads to the appropriate cell ends for a few seconds. You should see anywhere from 4A to 9A with most, so a good test for your 10A DVM.

 

[JRS7]

One more quick test before I hop on the treadmill:

I just quickly checked my G&P Scorpion the same way, and it's reading 1.23, so I'm fairly certain I'm not using the meter right (or it's piece of garbage!!)...................I know that the Scorpion is 'healthy', don't know how many amps it draws, but I'm pretty dang sure it's more than 1.23?

 

[tebore]

One more quick test before I hop on the treadmill:

I just quickly checked my G&P Scorpion the same way, and it's reading 1.23, so I'm fairly certain I'm not using the meter right (or it's piece of garbage!!)...................I know that the Scorpion is 'healthy', don't know how many amps it draws, but I'm pretty dang sure it's more than 1.23?

Sounds like your meter is nutty. Try hooking up the wires another way or changing the setting.

 

[JRS7]

If you swap the red and black lead, it goes from 1.23 to a -1.23

The Meter belongs to my brother, maybe it won't read amp draw.....I'm going to take some pics...

 

[tebore]

If you swap the red and black lead, it goes from 1.23 to a -1.23

The Meter belongs to my brother, maybe it won't read amp draw.....I'm going to take some pics...

I meant if you have a fused link port and no fused link to swtich from fused to non-fused or vice versa.